Tag: community

by jad

Where the People Are

I took part in today’s “Hands Off” National Day of Action in the Seattle Center, and I have to say, it wasn’t until I got closer to the rally site that I realized how big of a thing it was going to be. A friend earlier that morning told me everyone on the bus she’d taken was heading in that direction, and trying to find another friend later that afternoon proved to be a little difficult, given the signal jamming with the sheer amount of people there. The bus we took getting back was standing room only. All I’m saying … Continue reading “Where the People Are” →

by jad

Irreducible Squares

This wasn’t where I went to the first mass protest in my life, but it was the very first one I went to consciously and after agonizing about what to do. We were all caught up in the mess of affairs, but we were not all parsing them the same way, and the pressure of choosing the right side of history felt visceral at that young age. I don’t think I’ve admitted this to anyone yet, but I cried the night before, frustrated by the contrasting narratives I was scrambling to absorb in order to understand what is to be … Continue reading “Irreducible Squares” →

by jad

Hold The Tension

“Remember that a dialogue presupposes two sides. All too often comrades lecture people, not letting them get a word in edgewise. We must learn how to listen [emphasis in original] to people. Ask questions and get a sense of their political thinking.” We must learn how to listen. On one hand, it’s extraordinary that this needs to be said; on the other, thank God that and when it’s made explicit. All politics is learnt. All politics is also unlearnt. We are constantly relearning the give and take between the two. I’ve been engaging with a couple of points of political … Continue reading “Hold The Tension” →

by jad

Ghost Viscera

Did you see that retweet of the screenshot of the story-post of a girl minding her own business reading a book at a bar? “Pick me, pick me,” the photographer mocked. Did you find yourself performing outrage or were you genuinely concerned? Can we know the difference anymore? Do you know what it’s like to be pushed around? To be there no earlier than fifteen minutes before your scheduled appointment? To take off your jacket and belt and empty your pockets? Your boots too. Now your shirt. You have fifteen minutes to run. X Do you know what it’s like … Continue reading “Ghost Viscera” →

by jad

A Facebook Status about a Bridge Troll in Seattle

Someone threw a sandwich wrapper at me this morning as I crossed the great gulf that splits my city in two, breaking my reverie, to the cackle of his friends. They seemed surprised when I was stopped in my tracks, inquiring: “what the hell was that about?” Their laughter was replaced by silent smirks and a little dance by the trickster doing tragicomic tricks—at a time like this?—a strange two-step to a secret jig playing in his head. He tugged at his loins and approached me, staring me down with Dennis the Menace eyes too dark to read. All the … Continue reading “A Facebook Status about a Bridge Troll in Seattle” →

by jad

Memorial Day Weekend

I found this pin two days ago; it’s see-through. Maybe it was yellow once but it’s not yellow now. I found that interesting: a memorial without a memory.  Yesterday, I went to church without realizing that I was in fatigues until I saw someone walk in wearing full officer’s regalia. So I put the pin on.  Memories of unknown soldiers in invisible wars. Bonus points for its refusal to stay in focus every time I tried to take a photo.

by jad

Work Hard. Have Fun. Make History.

Imagine with me a city with a major transnational logistics provider and several data-mining enterprises wielding astronomical levels of computing power amongst themselves, pooling resources to, I don’t know, maybe help with tracking vaccine doses per medical provider per neighborhood—avoiding false moral dilemmas around “cutting in line” when there are no lines to cut in a spiraling rhizome of geographically-zoned inoculation not that many degrees more advanced in logic and efficiency and care than Balto and his sled—rather than wasting their time trying to stop their employees from unionizing instead. No, but seriously though, imagine with me whole neighborhoods vaccinated … Continue reading “Work Hard. Have Fun. Make History.” →

by jad

Shot A + Shot B

“The only way to understand storiessuch as that of the Annunciationis to repeat them, that is, to utter againa Word which producesinto the listener the same effect… I am hailing tonight, with the same gift,the same present of renewed presence. Tonight, I am your Gabriel!” (Bruno Latour) x Do you remember how, in Fight Club, one of the backstories we’re given for “Tyler Durden” is that of a movie theatre projectionist? How he would splice subliminal frames of lewd imagery into family films to mess with normies’ sense of reality, and how the film itself had frames of Tyler’s face … Continue reading “Shot A + Shot B” →

by jad

Seattle: 20 Weeks of Gratitude, Week 19

Part 1: #WIP I’ve been skirting around the topic of Seattle’s big, contradictory, & broken-open heart for a while now—pretty much since I moved here. The crisis has brought the different aspects of what I love and what I don’t love about this place in & out of focus, and an overall gestalt has gradually emerged: Seattle is a tender place—tender as in fragile, and sore, and almost too sensitive to touch, but also tender as in loving, and patient, and kind. That second sense of tenderness has bled out into the open during this lockdown in many ways; one … Continue reading “Seattle: 20 Weeks of Gratitude, Week 19” →